The subject matter herein relates generally to cable-mount connectors.
Various types of connectors, including electrical connectors and optical connectors, include cables that extend from connector housings. The housing typically covers and protects electrical and/or optical components disposed within the housing, such as printed circuit boards, electrical contacts, optical lenses, optical stubs, or the like. The housing is also configured to provide an interface for mating with a mating connector, such that the electrical and/or optical components within the housing may engage corresponding components of the mating connector. The electrical and/or optical components within the housing terminate to a cable that extends out of the housing to a remote electrical or optical device, such as a computer, a printed circuit board, another connector, or the like.
The cables of many cable-mounted connectors are subject to significant forces on a daily basis including, for example, tension from pulling on the cable to disconnect the connector from a mating connector, impact forces exerted on the outside of the cable, and the like. To reduce the stresses that are applied at terminating locations where conductors of the cable are connected to the corresponding electrical and/or optical components within the housing, many cables are secured to the connector housing using clamps. The clamp typically engages a cable jacket layer that defines an outer perimeter of the cable. Forces on the cable are transmitted through the cable jacket to the housing via the clamp instead of being experienced at the terminating locations between the conductors and the electrical and/or optical components. Furthermore, the conductors surrounded by the cable jacket often have built-in slack along the length of the conductors relative to the cable jacket and/or other layers of the cable such that tension applied on the cable is experienced primarily by the cable jacket instead of by the conductors.
But, although the clamps typically secure the cable jackets in place, the conductors within the jackets are prone to migrate relative to the jackets. For example, during the clamping process and/or over time under normal use conditions, at least some of the conductors may move along a longitudinal cable axis relative to the cable jacket. Such migrating reduces and may eliminate the built-in slack in the conductors. Without the slack, tension and/or other forces applied on the cable may be experienced at the termination locations, which could damage the conductors and/or break the connections between the conductors and the electrical and/or optical components, necessitating repairs and/or replacements.
A need remains for improving the cable strain relief provided by clamps by reducing conductor migration relative to the cable jacket in a simple and efficient way.